24 August 2012

The Expendables 2

Back in the
late nineties and the early part of this century, Sylvester Stallone was the
butt of a lot of jokes in the movie industry.He had amassed the most Razzie awards (30), collecting them for acting,
directing, writing, worst decade, and lifetime achievement to name a few.The later Rambo
and Rocky sequels contributed to a
lot of that.Ironically, Rocky Balboa and Rambo, the last in their respective franchises, revitalizedhis career.So, Stallone wrote and directed The
Expendables back in 2010(for which he received his latest Razzie
nomination), where he gathered together more testosterone than any other
film.He put together the Ocean’s Eleven equivalent of action
heroes.The Expendables was a box office success despite taking a critical
lashing and broke $100 million domestically.The only question was, who would be in the inevitable sequel?

The Expendables 2 quickly received the
go ahead, and the search was on for actors to join the film.To me, the two biggest problems in the
original film were the direction and the choppy, uneven storytelling. Stallone
was just too close and passionate about the film to direct it the way it needed
to be.The good dialog flowed into the
half-hearted action became distraction.Thankfully, in The Expendables 2,
Simon West replaced Stallone behind the camera.This seemed to kill both birds with one stone.Unfortunately, The Expendables 2 had to create its own set of problems.

The Expendables 2 opens on the mercenary
team infiltrating a bad-guy compound for an extraction.All the originals are back (except for Mickey
Rourke’s Tool): Toll Road
(Randy Coture), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin
Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), and team leader Barney Ross
(Stallone).As it turns out, they also
save the hide of Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Trench was apparently on the
same mission, but got caught in the process.During the extraction, we get our first glimpse of new team member Billy
the Kid (Liam Hemsworth), a young ex-Army sniper.

Back in the
states, the Expendables are having a drink at a bar, and we see that Christmas
is engaged to Lacy (Charisma Carpenter) from the original film.Billy asks to talk with Barney outside.Billy informs Barney that he will be leaving
the team at the end of the month. He says that the pay and team are good, but
the lifestyle is just not for him.Barney then goes back to his plane hangar, and is met by Church (Bruce
Willis) from the first film.

Church tells
Barney that his band of misfits are being sent to recover a package from a
wrecked plane, and that once it is returned to Church, Barney is off the hook
and out of debt to him.The other catch
is, Church is putting his own member, Maggie (Nan Yu), on the team.So, the team sets out to retrieve this
mysterious package from the wreckage.

Upon
arriving and retrieving the package, Vilain (Jean Claude Van Damme) and his
team of cronies intercepts the Expendables, and steals the package.Another significant event happens (no
spoilers here) and the Expendables are left trying to track down Vilain for
vengeance and they discover that the package contains a blueprint of a mine
where the Russians stored five tons of weapons-grade plutonium at the end of
the Cold War.The final showdown between
the Expendables and Vilain’s crew happens at an airport.Joining the fight for the good guys was
Church, Trench, and Booker (Chuck Norris).

So, here is
what is wrong this go around.The dialog
and acting are so tongue-in-cheek that it actually made me groan.When Chuck Norris first appeared on screen,
he tells a Chuck Norris fact.It
hurt.The amount of self-awareness of
the actors and their previous characters just gets old.They reference Lone Wolf McQuade, Die Hard, Terminator, Rambo and Dolph Lundgren’s
actual biography.There is a long dialog
about how Gunnar was a Fullbright scholar, a Chemical Engineer, and went to
MIT.That is really my only complaint.In addition, Chuck Norris does no
hand-to-hand combat.That is a real
shame.

West’s
direction helped the movie flow well through its 103 minute running time.He is no stranger to action.He directed Con-Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and The Mechanic.The story
feels like a script that was written back in the late eighties and was dusted
off and revamped for this exact group of actors.

The Expendables 2 did not have as big an
opening as its predecessor, but it might have better legs.There is no real big movie coming out in the
near future to threaten it.The Expendables2 is a better made film than The
Expendables.I just hope that it
makes $100 million since the rumor mill is already turning as to who will be
joining the cast for The Expendables 3.Not to mention, both Stallone and
Schwarzenegger have a new action films coming out this winter, Bullet to the Head and The Last Stand respectively.Then, they are in a film together sometime
next year, The Tomb.If The Expendables 2 does not perform well,
it could spell the end of the nostalgia that got these three films greenlit.

If you are a
fan of the original, then you will not be disappointed with its sequel.It is very bloody, action-packed, and
funny.I highly recommend seeing The Expendables 2 if you have already
seen The Dark Knight Rises, and The Bored Legacy.

Who is the Hairy Man?

I recently got a position with insideSTL.com as a movie critic. I will be posting on there once a week and here the rest of the time. I plan to post links between the sites to increase cross traffic. That means I should post 1 new review a week, at least!